“Emerson is a sanded and lacquered indie-pop rock album that blurs the lines of it’s own pieces in Bailey Williams and the Cherannes’ first full-length album. The lightly twang-touched floating voice of Bailey Williams dances above the electronics of her band. The result is a plush soundscape that is easily her most produced release. Leaving the simpler acoustics of her past efforts behind Williams has let her band step to the forefront of her sound with a digital wall thriving off of thick electric guitar and synthesizer efforts. From the opening track, ‘Point Out the Sun’ the difference between Bailey’s previous releases and Emerson is as obvious as the layered, cutting guitar that seasons the song. The change of guitar and more self aware lyrics take her from coffee shop singer/songwriter to indie-rock front-woman. Emerson flows together like the water Bailey often sings about throughout the album with its songs’ of want, pained ferocity, and hope. The album also often has the end of one song twisted into the beginning of the next, creating a blending of concepts and sounds that adds to the continuity of the tracks. The album runs a gamut of emotions. Bailey sings ‘When the tide takes me down what do you do?/ When the tide calls my name will you do the same; that I did for you?’on the track ‘Point Out the Sun’, which carries a feeling a little like thrashing in an undertow of emotions. Another track, ‘Let’s Go To The Beach’, feels like a lovechild of the Beachboys and Sheryl Crow complete with shinning vocal harmonies, a chorus of ‘Happiness is a thing you must find, you can’t teach/ Let’s go to the beach,’ and a playful refrain of ‘Run, run to the sun.’ The song ‘Cold Bathroom Tile’ goes through an almost 90’s pop-grunge like progression with a dissident chorus that is striking. Emerson carries a nice weight to it. The hooks are subtle and thrive in the vein of unique but pleasing expression that is expected with indie bands, and Bailey draws fans in with a smooth voice that dances and twirls on the line between playful and haunted at will. Emerson gets an A.”

Yep. Thanks to our new backers Sandra Bennett and an anonymous backer, today we passed the $8,000 MARK! HOLY COW! We can’t believe how far we’ve gotten, but we must remind you guys that we don’t get ANYTHING if we don’t reach $10,500.

With only 3 DAYS LEFT of our Kickstarter Campaign, and over $3,000 left to raise, we’re becoming a bit anxious. But then we remember the kind of people who are on our side. Very supportive, generous, kind people who believe in our music. And Emerson — the young lady who inspired the album’s name— keeps us thinking positive thoughts. She drew this picture during one of our shows and wrote “You inspire me” on the back.
I know we can make it!

Tonight, we performed some old and new songs at Smith’s Downtown in my hometown of Mishawaka, IN to raise money toward the Kickstarter. The young gal in the photo from the show is Emerson — the inspiration for the new album title. Thanks to Emerson’s family for coming and contributing, as well as everyone else who attended the event. We’re so close to breaking $5,000 thanks to: Abby Schrader, Neal Costry, Ken Ford, Tim Yerrington, and many more who chose to remain anonymous.

Thanks so much to John Brasseur his contribution today! We have reached $3,419 so far thanks to our 31 very generous backers.

We just have a little over $7,000 left to go! That only takes 350 people donating $20 each. Or heck, 700 people donating just $10 each!

It’s kind of sad to see how many views we get on our Milestone videos. Our $2,000 Milestone video had over 2500 views on Facebook alone. Just imagine if every one of those viewers donated $3 each. That would be $7,500! We would have surpassed our goal by now!

Anyway, with that being said, all we can do is keep sharing and keep reminding the world how important this project is.

We surpassed our $2,000 milestone last night by $700 thanks to these four generous new backers:

Alyssa Janel Richards

Gus Bennett

Vinz Clortho

Drew Elegante

A very special thanks to our backer Gus Bennett for his EXTREMELY generous donation of $1,020. Gus has always been supportive of our music, and continues to do so even though he’s on the other side of the world. Infinite thanks to you, Gus. And infinite thanks to EVERYONE who has donated so far!

We just have a few little things left to do before we release our first full-length album, Emerson. This album features what I believe to be our best line-up yet: Michael Doty on bass, TJ Green on drums, Bryan Lewis on guitar and keyboards, and Donald Bradley on violin. Also, Josh Hensley from The Rutabega makes a guest appearance on a couple tracks. To summarize, we are so proud of this album and can’t wait to share it with all of you. Stay on the lookout for the official release. Only a couple more weeks!

Very, very rarely do I hear music that makes me react the way that Jason Molina‘s music does. The first song of his that I heard was “Lioness” from the Songs: Ohia album The Lioness. This was honestly the first and only song that has ever made me cry. And I cried for minutes after the song ended. I hate to sound like a total hippie, but it moved something deep inside me and changed the way that I listen to music. The day I heard he had passed, I listened to “Lioness” on repeat and cried for him, and for the world who would hear no more new music from him.

Anyway, I regretted never releasing anything in his honor. So, I’m changing that. Caleb Jackson-Boys and I filmed a live performance video of me covering “Lioness” a few weeks ago, and did only one take to insure that the performance was completely raw and honest. So far, you folks who read my blog are the only people to hear about this upcoming video release. I’ll keep you in the loop and let you know the release date before anyone else. Oh, and if you haven’t listened to Jason Molina, Magnolia Electric Co., or Songs: Ohia, go listen RIGHT NOW. Please. Thank you.

Schools have been trying to drill this message into kids’ minds for years now, and it seems that nothing has improved. I can’t believe that kids are still being cyber-bullied to such extents that they are driven to commit suicide. Bullying, unfortunately, will always be a problem because its how kids find out the RIGHT way to treat others. When they do or say something wrong to another person, they are (usually) given some form of punishment that shows them that their behavior was not acceptable. Or, they learn by witnessing someone’s reaction after they have been verbally abused. BUT, when they don’t have face to face interaction, kids aren’t able to understand the kind of effect their actions have on other people. Like Louis C.K. said during an interview with Conan O’Brien: “They don’t look at people when they talk to them, and they don’t build empathy. Kids are mean, and its because they’re trying it out.”
I can’t single-handedly stop cyber-bullying, so it would be really nice to have some help. Then, maybe someday there won’t be any news stories about a 15-yr-old girl hanging herself because someone called her “fat” on Facebook.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of shooting a music video for “Swift & Sudden” with Caleb Jackson-Boys. I don’t want to give away too much, but just be prepared for some bright colors and awesome cinematography. I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about this video, and you guys are the first to hear about it. So, shhhhh. Keep it on the DL, alright buds? ;)

Rarely do I take the time to sit down and watch a TV series, unless its Spongebob. However, I admit that I’ve caught a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I felt guilty for watching it until a few months ago when a Wilco song played during one of the show’s many cliche love scenes. Then, as I was watching an episode today, “Museum of Flight” from Damien Jurado‘s album Maraqopa played, and I no longer felt ashamed for watching such a predictable and disgustingly cheesy show. So, no I don’t really care how Ted met his wife. But I guess I’ll watch the rest of the series just in case some more awesome music pops up somewhere.

Way back in the day when I was an awkward 16-year-old, I did this cover of a beautiful Daniel Johnston song. I haven’t looked at the video since it was first posted online, and I just saw the other day that it has almost 8,000 views! Not to mention a lot of super positive comments. Thank you all for checking it out. However, if you haven’t heard the original Daniel Johnston version though, check it out. Trust me.

The thing about love is it gets in the way every day.
Every time that I allow my mind to think about your face.
The thing about you is the light that you bring whenever you sing.
Every time I find that I get lost in listening.

But at least I’ve got a guitar and this music to soothe my feelings for you.
Whenever they start, I sing ’til my heart forgets what it is meant to do.

So I might as well just tell you, it’ll do no good to lie.
I couldn’t stop loving you if I tried.

I’ll never be a fraction of all that she was
With the way that she glows and the way that she knows exactly what you want.
Well I like to pretend that I’ll go where she’s been – be a lover and a friend.
But with distance and time in between you and I, I know that won’t happen.

I knew at first sight and I’ve known ever since, but won’t ever confess
The way that I cried when I realized how hard you’d be to forget.

So I might as well just say it before you see it in my eyes.
I couldn’t stop loving you if I tried.

I don’t know about you, but I like to think that people who don’t support marriage equality are pretty barbaric. I saw a barbarian on the streets of downtown South Bend today holding a huge sign that said “Honk to support traditional marriage!”. His buddy who was pacing back and forth down the sidewalk had another sign raised over his head that said something like “Marriage is the union between a man and a woman”. These kids were probably only a few years older than me… looked to be in their early 20s… and had these old-fashioned mindsets. Of course everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I guess it just caught me off guard because the majority of kids in my generation accept and support the idea of gay marriage. So when I see a 20-something kid actively protesting marriage equality, its weird. But its cool that the tables have turned now, and the people who DON’T support marriage equality are the weirdos. Get with the times, you guys. It’s not going to hurt you or anyone else.

Friends, if you haven’t checked out the band Ceiling Star, do so as soon as humanly possible. The lead singer for Ceiling Star, Michael Harold Doty, invited me out to his studio this week to sing some harmonies on Ceiling Star’s upcoming album. Their music is extremely catchy and gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it. Keep an eye out for their new record, but in the meantime, check out their album Past Life Regression. It’s the bomb, to say the least.

Hey there, young one! Guess what. We have officially begun recording the next Bailey Williams & The Cherannes album! We laid down some real nice guitar tracks the other night, and are moving onto vocals and synthesizers soon. I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s going to be a lot of Moog action on this album. I want to make you guys feel like you’re part of the recording process, so I’m going to keep you updated on our progress with fun in-studio pictures and whatnot. Also, be prepared for more show announcements coming soon!

My multi-talented musician pal Allen Strong was in town a couple summers ago and was cool enough to hang out with me and shoot this music video for “Kissing Mr. Caine” off the Infinite Temporarily EP. We didn’t plan anything out, which was the best way to go about filming a video for this particular song since it’s such a dark, atmospheric tune. We basically just walked around and found cool stuff that fit the song’s mood. I spotted this huge spider hanging out and having a meal by the river and thought “Heck yeah. That’s just creepy enough for this tune. We gotta get that on film!” And so we did. More music videos coming soon for some of the tracks on the Swift & Sudden EP. I’ll share the videos with you guys before anyone else sees them!